the GOP machine -- and trump personally -- never turned their guns on Bernie, so it's impossible to say how he would have done as the democrat's nominee. it probably wouldn't have been very hard to scare middle America by depicting him as a looney pinko commie who wanted to make everything free with no means of paying for it. many people here get scared by the term socialist, and lots of them equate it with communism.

america has had some breakout progressive campaigners in the primaries, but they are in a very small number of already liberal districts. while there might be some growing energy in that wing of the party, I still can't see blue-collar voters in Michigan going for it.

there's a lot to dislike about John mccain's political positions but this is so fucking petty, pretty sad....

As a Nation Mourns McCain, Trump Is Conspicuously Absent

WASHINGTON — As leaders of both political parties and foreign dignitaries publicly mourned John McCain on Sunday, President Trump conspicuously avoided a national moment of tribute to a senator whose death seemed to be its own metaphor for the demise of civility and unity in the Trump era.

The president did not make even the most cursory public show of respect on Sunday for Mr. McCain, against whom he had continued to indulge a personal grievance even as it was apparent that the Arizona Republican was losing his battle with brain cancer. The president spent much of the day golfing and attacking his usual enemies on Twitter.

It was the start of what promises to be a difficult week for Mr. Trump. Mr. McCain quietly declared before his death that he did not want Mr. Trump to take part in his funeral, a decision that will render the president a virtual pariah as the senator is eulogized by former presidents and other luminaries as a principled war hero and dedicated public servant.

But more than just the culmination of a political feud, the specter of Mr. Trump’s highly visible absence from Mr. McCain’s funeral on Saturday morning at Washington National Cathedral underscored the degree to which the president has veered from the norms of his office, unwilling to act as a unifying force at major moments in the life of the country.

I think 'wordsmith' is one of those words like 'eatery' that should only be used by broadsheet journalists. Or maybe shouldn't be used at all (but are somehow slightly more acceptable from broadsheet journalists).

Luka the Smith, a latter-day Wayland, hard at work in his wordsmithy. Beating verbs into shape on an anvil with a hammer and tongs. Mopping his sweaty, soot-smeared brow. Quenching a freshly-forged sentence in a bucket of water.